The rise of fanatical 'Israeli ayatollahs'

The rise of fanatical 'Israeli ayatollahs' is a godsend for anti-Zionists

By Julian Kossoff

An Israeli ayatollah? Rabbi Ovadia YosefLast week, Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman compared Turkey with Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution. But if Mr Lieberman were to be honest, he'd recognise that the greater threat to Israel from rising religious fundamentalism comes from within – on an almost daily basis.

At the same time as he was doing his tough-guy act with the Turks, Israel's High Court was buckling to the fait accompli of sexually segregated bus services (women at the back) on over 100 state bus routes, demanded by an emboldened ultra-orthodox community.

On the same day, an Israeli activist who defied orthodox Jewish custom by leading a group of women in open prayer at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall has been told to expect years in prison for breaching the peace – raising the prospect of Progressive Judaism's first prisoner of conscience.